Tag Archives: Colombia Action Network

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following national call to action from the Twin Cities Anti-War Committee.

We denounce the Federal Bureau of Investigation harassment of anti-war and solidarity activists. The FBI raided seven houses and an office in Chicago and Minneapolis on Friday, September 24, 2010. The FBI handed subpoenas to testify before a federal grand jury to eleven activists in Illinois, Minnesota, and Michigan. The FBI also attempted to intimidate activists in California and North Carolina.

This suppression of civil rights is aimed at those who dedicate their time and energy to supporting the struggles of the Palestinian and Colombian peoples against U.S. funded occupation and war. The FBI has indicated that the grand jury is investigating the activists for possible material support of terrorism charges.

In August, Juan Manuel Santos ascended to Colombia’s presidency. His election is not unusual for Colombia, which has been under U.S. influence for many years. Previous president Alvaro Uribe stood against the South American popular upsurge, led by Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, but which runs strong throughout the rest of the continent. This clash was in spite of Chavez’s many overtures to help previous Colombian leaders bring the armed opposition factions to the negotiating table. Egged on by the Bush Administration, Uribe opted for force over diplomacy. With such proving to be a largely failed strategy, and U.S. as well as Colombian resources for fighting a civil war drying up, where the nation goes from here is anyone’s guess.

Peace Not War
We oppose U.S. intervention and war in Colombia. We oppose the seven new U.S. bases being built to wage war on the Colombian people and threaten their neighbors. We say “NO to U.S. bases in Colombia!” We want peace and friendship with our neighbors, not war.

The National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera is launching a petition campaign targeting U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. The National Committee is demanding the U.S. government immediately release the Colombian revolutionary and stop violating Palmera’s human rights. Angela Denio said, “The U.S. government is acting like a tyrant in Colombia and abusing Ricardo Palmera in a Colorado prison by chaining him from head to toe with the constant threat of electric shock. It is outrageous. Where is Obama on all of this? He promised to stop torture.”

CARTAGENA DE INDIES, Colombia — I borrowed the title of this post from Lt. Philip Caputo’s excellent book covering the U.S. Marines’ first six months in Vietnam, not only because I like the title, but I also see some correlation between his story and the story of our troops now being written in the jungles of Colombia.

As in Caputo’s war, death, destruction, and mayhem were preceded by, first, a troop build-up, and then, small skirmishes which were the precursors to all-out war.

“In the case of the 11 men from Soacha, their bodies showed up in morgues or mass graves hundreds of km from Bogotá just a few days after they left or went missing from their homes. And although they were wearing civilian clothes when they set out for their supposed new jobs, their bodies were found dressed in FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) guerrilla fatigues…”

Helda Martínez

SOACHA, Colombia, Jan 13 (IPS) – Over the last two weeks, 31 Colombian soldiers accused of the forced disappearance and murder of 11 young men from the poor Bogotá suburb of Soacha have been released from prison on the grounds that they were not formally indicted within 90 days of their arrest, as established by Colombian law. Of the 42 members of the Colombian army implicated in what is known here as the “Soacha case”, 18 were released between Dec. 30 and Jan. 7, six on Tuesday Jan. 12 and seven more on Wednesday Jan. 13.

They are facing charges of luring a number of young men from Soacha in August and September 2008 with false job promises, murdering them and presenting them as guerrillas killed in combat (euphemistically referred to as “false positives”).